TWO elderly people had to be rescued after their car got trapped in severe flooding which caused chaos across North Wales yesterday.

Ron Holmes, 80, and his friend Anne Jones, 69, both from Kinmel Bay, were travelling to visit Mrs Jones’ daughter, Anwen, in Trefriw when they were confronted with water just after the bridge across the River Conwy, in Llanrwst.

They tried to drive through the axle-deep water but the engine flooded and stalled leaving them stranded, just after 2pm.

Three fire crews wearing lifejackets pushed the blue Ford Granada through the knee-deep water to safety where paramedics were waiting and they were taken to hospital for check-ups.

Jason Edwards, 36, of Llanrwst was taking photos of the nearby flooded Gwydir Park, where the water had reached waist-height, when he saw Ron’s car approach the bridge.

He said: “I walked over to the car and advised the driver not to try and drive through.

“But he went and got stuck. When the car stalled the driver opened the window and waved a blue disabled badge and I went to see if they were OK.

“When the car didn’t start I called the police for help.”

Last night Mrs Jones said they had decided to “take a chance” driving along the flooded road.

She said: "We should have known better and gone round Betws (y Coed). Ron drove along and all of a sudden we hit a torrential wave. The car stopped and water started gushing in. It was up to the dashboard.

“I couldn’t open the door because Ron couldn’t have got out because he’s had a new knee put in and he can’t walk very far. I’ve got an ulcer on my foot and that can be painful to walk. Luckily help was very quick in arriving.”

Both were taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd for checks.

The pair were among dozens of people who called for help as heavy rain and strong winds battered North Wales.

Motorists suffered severe delays during rush hour as a five-mile stretch of the A55 was closed off because of a blocked culvert at Bodelwyddan.

It had a major knock-on effect as traffic was diverted through St Asaph, with traffic reduced to snail’s pace through Rhuddlan before re-joining the main artery at Abergele.

Diversions saw severe traffic jams along the A525 and A547 with vehicles bumper to bumper for miles.

David Jones of Wrexham said a 50-minute journey from his home to Llandudno took nearly two hours.

“It was my slowest ever descent of Rhuallt Hill. Cars were bumper to bumper all the way,” he said.

“It was very bad. The sheer volume of traffic trebled my usual journey to work,” said Mathew Roberts, 25, from Hawarden.

A Welsh Assembly Government spokeswoman said: “Excess rain had washed debris into the culvert causing a blockage, this has since been cleared.

“Regular checks will in the future be carried out during extreme weather conditions to stop this occurring again.”

Two other main roads – the A5 at Ogwen Bank near Bethesda and the A499 Penrhos-Llanbedrog roads were closed.

But it was not just motorists who were affected. Several families were forced to leave their homes as water poured in.

Sandbags were handed out to residents at Tan y Bwlch, Llanllechid, near Bethesda and engineers were investigating why the damage was so severe.

Fire crews from Bangor were called to Lliwen Hughes’ home in Tan y Bwlch Road at 8am, after a drain overflowed sending cascades of water through her house.

The 43-year-old said it was the second time in three years her home had been flooded.

“The drain above the house has collapsed and the council have tried to repair it but it hasn’t worked. Water is coming in through the back door and out again through the front door.

“It’s ruined the kitchen. The cooker, the washing machine, the tumble dryer are all broken. The lounge has also been affected. The electricity is off so we can’t stay here.”

Last night Lliwen and her children, Dion, 20, and Sioned, 17, were staying at an hotel while the clean-up, operation, expected to take weeks, began.

Council staff were called in later to divert the route of the flood water away from the house.

On Anglesey a pub was flooded for the second time in four months.

Mary Brain, of the Gazelle Hotel at Glyngarth, Menai Bridge said the kitchen, bar and pool rooms had been affected and much of the furniture damaged.

Sandbags and pumps held the flood water at bay at Llanrwst and Trefriw at lunchtime high tide although residents said it was “touch and go”.

One said: “The playing fields have flooded and the tea rooms by the bridge have about 2ft of water but no houses have been flooded.”

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said staff had been in the area since late on Wednesday night co-ordinating flood defence work.

“Pumps have been pumping water away from properties at Tannery yard, Llanrwst and elsewhere in the town. Staff have helped place sandbags at key points and helped to clear drains at both Llanrwst and Trefriw.

“There was some flooding of farmland and other low-lying land but no reports of properties flooding have been received.”

Last night, a flood warning in the area was lifted but were still in place at Bangor on Dee and Llangollen.

Denbighshire council staff cleared a mini-landslide that affected the Lower Denbigh Road in St Asaph yesterday morning although the road was passable with care. Glascoed Road, St Asaph, was also blocked for a time yesterday morning.

Flooding affected a number of smaller roads county-wide although all remained passable with care.

Councillor Mike German, lead member for environment, said: “Our staff have worked tirelessly to try and keep motorists on the move and answered a number of calls relating to flooding on roads county-wide.

“We have also been spending time clearing culverts, to prevent any further flooding problems.”